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The new Monarch support is finally released and there are certaínly things to discuss about this deck.
An overview, what the new support has to offer:
[spoiler]
- Eidos & Idea
These two needs to be mentioned as one, since they serve as the new (& better) Tribute fodder engine for your Monarchs.
Your main play involves summoning Idea, who tutors Eidos from your deck. Eidos' effect will then allow you to Tribute Summon once more during this turn, regardless if you used your NS on Idea.
As you may notice, this setup allows you to summon any Monarch, including the Megas and the 2 new Monarchs. Even better, Eidos is Dark for Mega-Caius and Idea is Light for Mega-Zaborg, so they get their full effects, which are devastating.
Did I mention, that Eidos can SS Idea from your graveyard, allowing you to pull another Eidos from your deck to repeat the process every turn? Seems awfully similar, no? Idea in other hand gets you banished Monarch S/T, which is going to be important with the next card.
All of this without excluding all of that awesome S/T support, Monarchs have.
The downside to this amazing engine is, that it is very vulnerable to effect negation. Getting Veiler'd really sucks and cripples the play entirely. Nonetheless, it is still incredible, especially since it supports the entire S/T line-up.
It also surpasses pretty much all of the Vassals.
- Erebus
This is the sinister Monarch of the 2 new ones.
Its effect is pretty powerful, for what it is. It shuffles 1 card back to the deck without targeting ... and hits everywhere.
More importantly though, it sends 2 Monarch S/T to the graveyard. This is going to important with the effect of The True First Monarch since that equals into an instant draw from it. It is also able to send Pantheism for its search effect or (again) the True First One, to get a free Tribute fodder, if necessary.
But true to its title, Erebus even rules in death. It can recycle any Monarch (+ Majesty's Fiend) from your graveyard, if it remains there. Note, that this includes itself as well.
- Aither
It retains the same Monarch S/T effect as its counterpart, but the other effect is different. It summons any Monarch from your deck. Of course, they don't get their effects but they return to your hand. This makes Aither a pseudo searcher for your Tributes with the notable exception of the Fiends.
Interestingly, you can use this effect during your opponent's turn. This can be quite the troll move, if coupled with Stormforth.
- Pantheism of the Monarchs
This is so stupid. The first effect is a simple Trade-In for your Monarch S/T. Considering, you could have some unnecessary ones like multiple Stormforths or the True First One, not such a big cost.
... Especially since its 2nd effect is going to get you another Monarch Spell to replace the discarded one. The Power Tool-esque effect is not giving your opponent any chances at all. For what do you have Tenacity? Reveal the Monarch S/T you want + 1-2 Tenacitys. That's it.
It's a +1 draw engine and searcher rolled in one. Idea even loops that card. Like wtf?
- The True First Monarch
Another card, that gives Monarch further draw power. You recycle your sent S/T through Erebus/Aither and get a free draw. A bit slow, since it is a Trap, but the effect can be stacked with multiples and it has another use. It can become a free fodder for a single Tribute, that can be useful. Add Mithra and you could potentially summon 2 Double Tributes.
[/spoiler]
I tried myself on an experimental list with the new cards.
[spoiler]
Tributes:
- 1 Caius the Mega Monarch
- 2 Aither the Heaven Monarch
- 3 Erebus the Netherworld Monarch
- 3 Caius the Shadow Monarch
- 3 Majesty's Fiend
Vassals:
- 2 Mithra the Thunder Vassal
- 3 Eidos the Netherworld Knight
- 3 Idea the Heaven Knight
Spells:
- 1 Foolish Burial
- 2 March of the Monarchs
- 2 The Dominion of the Legendary Monarch
- 3 Pantheism of the Monarchs
- 3 Reinforcement of the Army
- 3 Tenacity of the Monarchs
- 3 The Monarchs Stormforth
Traps:
- 3 The True First Monarch
[/spoiler]
Keep in mind, that it isn't streamlined yet. I'm still messing around with ratios or certain choices. But here are some of my reasonings for now.
- 3 Erebus & 2 Aither
Due to their S/T clause, I concluded, that these 2 are the most important Monarchs for the deck. Setting up Pandeity is very important to dig for more cards and only those 2 can start that engine without opening it.
In testing, you only need Aither 1-2 times to tutor either Erebus or Mega Caius. Outside of that, it only has Stormforth interactions and serves as more additional copies of its sinister counterpart. Erebus in the other hand is very useful in any time, even T1, where you can force your opponent to play with only 5 cards in their hand. Not to mention, recycling your used Monarchs is highly useful for the grind game.
- 1 Mega Caius & no Mega Zaborg
It goes without saying, that banishing twice with a Chain Destruction effect + 1000 burn damage is awesome. Yet, since Caius doesn't contribute to the draw engine and can be tutored by Aither, I went with only 1.
While Zaborg is a win condition against Extra Deck heavy decks, it is very costly and could leave you vulnerable to OTKs. It eats up a your Tribute Summon this turn, which is a significant cost. I would most definetly side it though.
- Playing Mithra
Now, one may say, that Mithra is just a worse Eidos, but let's not forget, what it does.
In general, Mithra allows you to have a Tribute on the field with only few ways to disrupt it successfully. This can be quite important to play around backrow. Like Idea + Eidos, you are able to get out a Double Tribute, since Mithra allows for another Tribute Summon, while all of the Level 8 Monarchs can be summoned by tributing a Tribute summoned monster. So it can serve as another way to get your Monarchs out and can even be played besides the Knights.
- Majesty over Vanity
Really, it's because of the stats. Why isn't Vanity a 'Monarch'? That really blows, since that means, you cannot use it with Tenacity or recycle it with Erebus. Still Majesty + Dominion + March handles a majority of decks, even capable of outright winning the game. Activating your own effects becomes redundant, when your opponent needs to face 2400 to 2800 bodies without Extra Deck and effects.
- S/T ratios
You only need 2 of each Monarch S/T at most, due to Pantheism and Tenacity (which are needed at 3). All of them are highly searchable and they are pretty bad T1. The 3rd Stormforth is currently under testing, since it still retains its use for removing pesky threats.
Foolish is very versatile with Erebus. If you don't have Erebus, you can search it with this. If you have Erebus in your grave, Foolish can tutor any Monarch.
Since you want to open up with Idea, you really need RotA. Not sure, if I want to switch the 3rd one with 141.
I really like, how much stronger Monarch have become. They are still about keeping advantage over your opponent, but are much faster-paced now and the inclusion of Mega Monarchs gave them a big power boost. Their S/T give them huge anti-meta potential and their draw power is insane.
However, consistency is still an issue. While the crazy Pantheism draws helps it, it still sucks a lot to open up without any Monarch. Vassals only had are the worst, since you cannot do anything and Tenacity becomes dead.
That's also the reason, why I decided against the other Vassals. All of them require setup, which you simply don't have T1. They are pretty bad blanks and despite their powerful effects, I prefer to consistently get out my Tributes and force my opponent to deal with them. So I made my fodder engine as small as possible.
I guess, let's discuss this?